


Justice, past due

by allaire mikháil (allaire)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Betrayal, Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Peggy Carter knew and did nothing, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), S.H.I.E.L.D. is shady as fuck, Steve Rogers is morally bankrupt, Team Not As Family, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark is Done with This Shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 12:41:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11783385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allaire/pseuds/allaire%20mikh%C3%A1il
Summary: Of course S.H.I.E.L.D. knew. But what would have been the benefit tothemin going public? Howard Stark's son would fall on his feet soon enough. He was aStark, after all.





	Justice, past due

“My special friend from _The New York Times_ is right,” Tony Stark announces with a smirk. “This meeting is not about the date and features of the newest StarkPhone release. I'm afraid the world will have to wait until September 1st just like announced by Miss Potts – I'm sure you're all heartbroken.” He stops for the obligatory titters of the gathered journalists and winks at the _N.Y. Times_ correspondent who blushes. It clashes horribly with his red hair.

“No, this statement is about something else entirely. It is about me announcing my intention to have charges brought against former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nicholas J. Fury and former S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents Richard B. Stoner and Letitia P. Senyaka.”

The room falls entirely silent, but the frequency of the camera flashes onto the podium at least triples.

Tony's smile never wavers. It looks like a rictus.

“For what, you might wonder? Simple. For being accessories after the fact to the murder of Howard and Maria Stark, my parents. Were former Director Margaret 'Peggy' Carter still alive, I would urge the same charges be brought against her as well.”

***

Clint yelps and barely dodges the spray of glass shards _exploding_ from Steve's hand.

“Steve, what the fuck? Are you trying to _kill_ us?!”

Sam grabs Steve's hand and attempts to pry the remains of his drinking glass from his convulsively tightening fingers.

Steve jumps to his feet and forcibly yanks his hand from Sam's grip, paying no mind to his friend's pained yelp at the action.

“I've always known that Tony could be a bastard--”

“ _Language_ ,” Scott mutters in the background, but is ignored.

“--but this is beyond the pale! How _dare_ he spit on Peggy's reputation like that! How could he do that to his godmother's good name! Does he have no shame? No conscience?”

***

“Allow me to explain. When my parents died on December 16, 1991, their deaths were ruled an accident a mere week later.”

He allows no questions and simply talks over the one brave journalist who tries to interrupt, “And yes, although SI and myself have brought lawsuits against anyone who ever dared put it in print, I am very much aware that the prevalent opinion since that day has always been that the one person to blame for the 'accident' was my father. It's been an open secret to _anyone_ that Howard Stark was a highly functioning alcoholic, and just like the rest of the world, I was _certain_ that he must have caused their car to crash due to him driving while under the influence.”

Tony's face might just as well be hewn from stone. There is no light in his eyes, but his mouth keeps moving. Inexorably. Mercilessly.

“Turns out the world – and myself – have been wrong all these years. The 'car accident' was not so much an _accident_ as an assassination. An assassination planned and executed by HYDRA by means of their prime asset, the operative known as the 'Winter Soldier'.”

***

“ _What_?!” Sam exclaims. He's stopped trying to doctor Steve's hand and is instead goggling at the TV. The rest of Steve's team is similarly frozen and spellbound.

One could hear a pin drop.

“Steve? Is he right? Did Bucky murder his parents?” Clint's lips shape around the few words almost without his own volition.

It would explain _so much_. Steve has always been uncharacteristically quiet about whatever happened between him, Bucky and Stark in the abandoned HYDRA bunker in Siberia, never saying more than 'And then Tony flipped and attacked us when we didn't agree to turn ourselves in, and Bucky and I were forced to disable his suit in order to get away.'.

Right.

Stark, who's always had a fanboy boner for good old Cap, suddenly being willing to hurt and possibly kill the idol of his youth?

Clint's always known that he was missing part of the puzzle. But this? _This?_

***

“The Winter Soldier, formerly Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes of the US Army, was tasked with eliminating Howard Stark and gaining access to the Super Soldier Serum. Any collateral damage was acceptable. The order was given by a HYDRA agent by the name of Vasily Karpov – one of the many victims of Helmut Zemo that the man will soon stand trial for.”

Tony delivers all the information in a monotone, never hesitating, never stopping.

“I might not be able to get justice for my parents from their murderers. Karpov is dead, and Barnes is out of my reach, hiding wherever the so-called 'Team Cap' has gone to ground. But I hold more people responsible than just those two.”

He takes a sip of water from a glass standing on the podium and wets his lips.

“Justice for my parents means going after the people who helped cover up the truth of my parents' deaths. Justice means going after the people who deliberately ruled their murder an accident as though they had a right to just sweep under the rug that two lives had been taken long before their time – unjustly, brutally, and in secret.”

***

“I had no idea,” Wanda whispers. She looks shaken.

Sam and Clint's exclamations overlap, but in the end, the former staff sergeant's persistence wins out.

“Steve, did you know about this?” Sam looks gutted, and his voice is a tremulous whisper.

“You know as well as I do that Bucky is not responsible for his actions as the Winter Soldier,” Steve declares hotly. “Whether it was his hands that killed the Starks or not, the blame is on HYDRA!”

Sam stumbles back as though in a daze and sits down on the couch, hard. He's shaking his head. “So you knew,” he whispers. “And Tony—Tony found out. In Siberia?”

It's as though a light turns on in Clint's head. He feels faint and like he'd prefer to sit down as well.

Finally, it all makes sense. Nat's actions. Steve's. Tony's.

This whole 'war' that was never just about the Accords.

***

“At the end of this press conference, my PA,” Tony nods to a serious-looking older woman who looks back, steely-eyed and determined, “will supply each of you with a memory card that contains two folders. In one of them, you will find a video of the assassination of my parents. It's the same file, unedited, that HYDRA recorded for their own purposes. In the second folder, you will find a digitalized version of a scanned paper file. Said file was part of the S.H.I.E.L.D. data dump done in 2012 by the Black Widow and Captain America. It documents a meeting between then-director Peggy Carter, her deputy, Nick Fury, and her staff members and advisors, Rick Stoner and Tia Senyaka. In said meeting, director Carter and her team concluded that declaring Howard Stark's death an accident was the most... sensible... decision.”

He looks as though he's bitten into something bitter. The whole room hangs on his lips.

“Considering he was already dead and the serum stolen, they saw no need to bring attention to HYDRA's continued existence. Instead, they made a deal with the Russian government. In exchange for supplying them with information about Karpov's true loyalties and the serum in his possession, they garnered a couple of political concessions as well as the transfer of one of their most successful assets into US custody.”

Tony looks down, but his words remain clearly understandable. “A graduate of their Red Room Program - one Natalia Alienovna Romanova – was handed over to S.H.I.E.L.D. and soon deployed as their newest, and most lethal, asset.”

***

“That is just _sick_ ,” Scott explodes. “Hank's always said that S.H.I.E.L.D. was a group of untrustworthy, backstabbing liars, but this really takes the cake. So they bury a double murder just so they can get a leg up in the 'who has the most deadly assassin' competition?”

Clint keeps quiet. He feels numb.

When he came to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attention, back in his carny days, they sent a drop-dead gorgeous redhead to reel him in. Sharp-eyed, sharp-tongued, tough and athletic Natasha who had him hooked when she beat him at knife-throwing without even breaking a sweat.

Clint knows she came over from Russia, but he always thought she'd defected. He had no idea that she was part of a horse-trade carried out in a shady as _fuck_ backroom deal.

Once again, his mouth moves without his conscious permission. “Tony was _seventeen_ when his parents were killed. He was left, alone and without protection, in the care of the man who later paid the Ten Rings to kidnap and murder him.

“And your saintly Peggy endorsed and enabled all of that. Just so she could get a bigger piece of the pie in the international game of one-upmanship.”

He's not at all surprised at the fist crashing into his face.

***

“If my legal team got the research right--”

The laughter in the room is half-hearted at best.

“--Being an accessory after the fact to a double murder means the suspects face up to 15 years' imprisonment. I'm not a prosecutor, and going after former agents of the caliber of one Nick Fury won't be a piece of cake, but I consciously chose this platform so that everything would be out in the open and any attempts by _anyone_ to obstruct the prosecution of Nick Fury, Rick Stoner and Tia Senyaka would be rendered impotent.

“No one is above the law. Be they a self-styled or even publicly lauded 'superhero', a leading political figure, or a higher-up in the espionage trade.

“You've all been witness to the trial against former General and Secretary of State Thaddeus E. Ross who thought his position would protect him from the backlash of his criminal actions. You've all covered the international arrest warrants issued for the former Avengers under Steven G. Rogers.

“I stand here before you all to demand justice. Justice for my parents. Because murder does not to fall under the statute of limitations, and neither do any actions by accomplices that hinder or prevent the apprehension and punishment of the persons responsible.”

Tony smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> "If a law is inconvenient, ignore it, it doesn't apply to you."  
> ~ Dick Francis, _Straight_


End file.
